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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22857043">Clear As Mud</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cassiopeia12727/pseuds/Cassiopeia12727'>Cassiopeia12727</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The X-Files</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Fluff, MSR, Romance, Sasquatch, Season/Series 01, Season/Series 02, Unresolved Romantic Tension</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 18:48:29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,857</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22857043</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cassiopeia12727/pseuds/Cassiopeia12727</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Mulder and Scully are out in the woods, looking for Bigfoot.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Fox Mulder &amp; Dana Scully, Fox Mulder/Dana Scully</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Clear As Mud</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>As far as I remember, the X-Files never gave us a Bigfoot episode, which I thought was a missed opportunity, although the topic is quite cliché, I've decided to try to make it work, at least as a fluffy backstory for a short fan fic. This takes place fairly early on in the show, maybe season 1 or 2.<br/>Disclaimer: Chris Carter and Ten Thirteen Productions own The X-Files and all associated characters. I don't own any of the characters mentioned in this story or episodes and movies referenced in it.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Scully was done with it. They had spent the past few weeks walking boggy forest paths, hours in the rain talking to forest rangers and local self-proclaimed witnesses, and hadn't seen the sun in what seemed like forever. If she had to climb over one more mossy fallen tree trunk or pull the hood of her rain jacket up one more time, after the skies had seemingly cleared up, she swore she was going to shoot someone. Spending fall in the sticks of Washington state could do that to you. The breathtaking landscape didn't do much to soothe her spirits. Right now, they were somewhere around Sherman Pass, far from any real civilization, and it had been at least an hour since they had come across the last hiker. The locals were friendly enough. At least they were more welcoming than the authorities in Seattle, which had to be one of the dankest cities that Scully had ever been to. The Seattle Freeze was definitely real. Why couldn't they solve some cases in Southern California or the Sunshine State, for a change? Arizona would do, too. </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
    <br/>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Despite her sturdy hiking boots, Scully could not remember what it felt like to have dry socks. Never mind the fact that she probably looked far from attractive right now, with wet strands of hair sticking to her face. She was glad that she hadn’t applied eye makeup, or else she'd resemble more a raccoon than a respectable FBI agent now. Of course, the nasty weather didn't affect Mulder negatively in the slightest, neither his looks (he managed to look even more handsome in his rugged boots and outdoorsy jacket), nor in his demeanor. He was hopping over rocks and stepping over streams with the energy of a young boy. Did he really think that they were going to find the Sasquatch or any of his alleged abductees here? Given the size of the wilderness in the Cascades, that idea equaled looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack. There had already been plenty of search teams combing the park for the last missing person attributed to the cryptid, Stanley Day, but no trace was found. The soggy branches were slapping Scully in the face, the cawing corvids mocking her life choices. What was she doing here? Why did she keep following Mulder into these cases built on hearsay and unsubstantiated theories?</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Lost in her grumpy ruminations, Scully stopped paying attention to where she was stepping, and it happened. One moment, she was trotting along, the next, her front foot was stuck several inches deep in the mud. Before she knew it, her hind foot followed suit. Try as she might, her boots wouldn't budge, and she was immobilized, with her legs lodged mid-step.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>"Dammit!" she exclaimed, rocking back and forth in an attempt to loosen the hold on her boots but only sinking in further.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>Mulder was there in a second, and before Scully could stop and assure him that she was fine, that she got this, he reached for her. When his warm hands gently grasped her waist, time seemed to stop. Scully was sure that he felt the electricity, too. He had to. As he paused for just the fraction of a second, his eyes connected with hers, stunned. He was standing wide-legged, his feet firmly planted on the ground around the patch of thick mud, but he was close enough that she could feel his breath on her face and the scent of his cologne lingering in the air. Her heart skipped a beat. She wished that they could just be suspended in time like this, his hands around her waist, his tender eyes locked with hers, making her weak in the knees. For that brief moment, Scully forgot her misery and how insecure she had felt about her rain-drenched appearance. If she leaned forward just a bit more, and he lowered his head, their mouths would touch. Her lips unintentionally parted in anticipation.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>Mulder was hesitant. He could feel that something was happening between the two of them, that the feelings that he had started to develop for her were mutual. Yet, they were still just partners, at least officially. What if it was all wishful thinking? What if she got offended if he just leaned in and kissed her right then and there? The risk was too large.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>"Dammit Newton?" he joked, forcing himself to break the spell, carefully lifting her up. Scully looked confused... and disappointed? He still wasn't sure if he had truly seen in her eyes what he was certain was reflected in his.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>"I don’t follow,” she said, as he quickly removed his hands from her midsection, now that she was on solid ground again.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>"You know, because of the non-Newtonian behavior of the mud, like quicksand." He immediately regretted his joke.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>She just stared at him blankly.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>"Okay, okay, I'll leave the science jokes to the real science geek here," Mulder said conciliatory, turning to continue their hike, but first briefly glancing over his shoulder to ensure that she was ready.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>Scully wasn't sure what had just happened. Was it love that she had seen in his eyes? She felt like staying put out of protest, demanding that he explain himself. How could he make her yearn for more like that and then break it off with a casual joke? Maybe she was mistaken about his feelings. Begrudgingly, Scully decided to try to push her thoughts aside and continue the hike. "We're just friends, partners and friends," she repeated to herself.</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>"Scully, is now a good time to tell you that there is growing consensus among paranormal researchers that the Sasquatch is actually an interdimensional being?" Another silly joke, probably to drive the point home that they were still just partners and friends, but certainly not more.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>Scully rolled her eyes, although Mulder couldn't see it, as she was walking several feet behind him, trying to catch up. Only, there was no catching up to Mulder's thoughts. What was going through his mind right now?</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>"It's true. Sasquatches are said to use similar portals to the Grays to travel time and space," Mulder explained.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>Scully was silently shaking her head.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>"So, we aren't actually searching for Bigfoot, we are searching for his portal?" Scully inferred.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>"Or evidence thereof," Mulder replied, as they continued further and further into the wilderness. "And what would such evidence look like?" Scully asked, without really wanting to know the answer.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>"I'm not sure, exactly," Mulder admitted, "Maybe burn marks or increased radiation."</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>"Mulder, I know I should have asked this before following you here, but do we have any idea about whereabouts this 'evidence' would be found?"</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>"Yep," Mulder responded curtly, and pointed ahead. "See those trees over there?"</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>Scully nodded.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>"I think we're almost there, or at least that's what the map and compass are telling me. Plus, the clearing looks similar to what I saw in the case report photos."</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>Scully was going to retort that all clearings looked more or less the same to her, but she stopped herself. She decided to let Mulder do his thing, and she would do her thing, and then they could fly back to DC, where civilization and her own cozy apartment awaited her. After today, this would be her last night in Washington state for the time being.</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>They reached the clearing, and Mulder seemed to find what he was looking for.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>"Ha! See those burn marks?" He walked over to two scorched patches of grass on the ground. As he knelt down to take a closer look, Scully fetched several small glass containers out of her backpack and handed them to Mulder, who already had his latex gloves and tongs ready. Mulder took the containers and proceeded to put samples of the soil and burned grass into it.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>Scully, not sure how she was needed here, walked the perimeter of the site and gazed into the gray sky. Little did she know that Mulder was watching her intently. He wouldn't dare tell her this, but she looked endearing with her messy wet hair and soaked pants. With anyone else, he would have used the descriptors "cute" or "adorable", but that wasn't really a word that one could use with Dr. Scully. He felt the sudden urge to regain her attention and have her turn around, so that he could appreciate her looks better.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>"Scully, what did you think of the park ranger?" he asked, out of the blue.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>"Kenneth Robertson? He seemed nice enough," Scully replied, swiftly turning to face Mulder and stepping closer, not sure where he was going with this question.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>"Is that your professional opinion, or are you just saying that because he was checking you out?" Mulder teased.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>Scully raised both of her eyebrows in disbelief. "He did </span>
  <em>
    <span>not </span>
  </em>
  <span>check me out."</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>"And you liked it"</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>"I did not."</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>"Did too."</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>"Mulder, he's not even my type," Scully retorted exasperated.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>"Oh, so who is your type?" Mulder inquired in return.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>Now, they were finally getting somewhere.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>Scully started, then paused, then started and paused again, eventually saying, "Mulder, we're not having this conversation."</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>She knew exactly who her type was, but Mulder didn't have to know that, at least not, yet. It seemed like he was really testing her boundaries today.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>Her partner made a dramatically disappointed face in response to her reply.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>"Okay, then who's your type, Mulder?" Scully asked, amused that he was having a reaction similar to hers, shrugging, attempting to say something, but not finding the right words.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>"Yeah, I thought so," she smirked.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>Mulder's expression had turned sheepish. Although he had hoped that Scully was going to give him a hint of what she was looking for in a man, he had already known deep down inside that they weren't at that stage, at least not at this point in time. However, he had not expected her to turn the question back on him. He was relieved that she didn't seem to expect a response.</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>They, or rather he, spent some more time investigating the area, and Mulder took a few photos and notes, occasionally using a Geiger counter, all in silence. The sun was starting to get low when Mulder turned to Scully and informed her that it was time to leave.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>"Do you think you have all the evidence you need?" Scully asked, not in a patronizing way, but actually hoping that they would have good data to base their report on, so that he could get just a little bit closer to the truth. Her earlier anger had melted away.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>"Yep," he replied, leaning a little closer than he had to, as he continued. "It was a Sasquatch that took Stanley. It's clear to see."</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>"That's good. Just making sure that it's not as clear as mud."</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>They cherished the brief moment of their heads within inches from each other, sharing a smile about their little inside joke and the memory associated with it, then they walked back in the direction of their rental car, leaving rainy forests and treacherous footings behind.</span>
</p>
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